Posts Tagged ‘mexican food’

It’s not that I mind people asking. Even semi-faux interest is a nice gesture when you’re spending serious quality cubicle time with people. It’s more that I immediately lose track of what happened over the weekend the second I walk back into the building. Weekend me disappears and week me, who is a lot like weekend me except without the fun part, gets all up in my frontal lobe.

I did have a good weekend, though!

The girls and I had some weird moments where they enthusiastically sniffed at a fence (that’s in front of another fence) so hard that Maida started snapping at Cloey because she was hogging the sniffing.

Why weird? Because I stuck my nose near the fence too. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I didn’t smell anything, but there’s a pretty good chance that I sucked something gross into my nose all the same.

Crockett and I looked at our freezer and realized that some of our favorite tamales from Costco that we don’t eat anymore because one day we accidentally looked at the nutritional information (TERRIBLE IDEA, PEOPLE) were still hiding in there, so steamed ‘em up. There’s taking care of your health, and there’s wasting food. I prefer to do the first and avoid the second, but sometimes the two collide, and you have to have tamales for dinner.

Mine fell apart on it’s way out of the steamer, but it was still so delicious that I swooned. Swooned, I tell you. There’s nothing like a hearty mixture of lard and masa to really bring a Saturday night home.

Also, I made peach-thyme cornmeal crumb bars.

Because my peaches were being stupid and my thyme plant was being awesome. The recipe is at the bottom but I have a LOT of words today ok? Ok.

Sunday was basically more of the same, except with some cooking for the upcoming week and some laundry doing and oh right also less recovering from multiple texas slushes.

Did I mention that Friday night was a big night?

Sunday morning I snacked on some fruit and then ran to the store to get half and half, which I’d forgotten on my big Saturday shopping trip. My local Albertson’s, which is a workhorse of a grocery store that can totally fill in for half and half when needed but isn’t really my go-to for … well, anything fresh, had a small basket of hierloom tomatoes. I don’t know where they came from, and I don’t care. They looked wonderful. (I can no longer accept the regular ones now that I know their color is ruining their flavor! They look pretty and then blerg. I’m over it.) I bought two and three avocados and when I got home I pulled Crockett away from his tree trimming for brunch BLATs.

That was a really long story just to have it end with BLAT, when you could clearly see there was a BLAT right there.

The tomato was so good that I ate it with the leftover aioli (ha – light mayo with additional lemon juice and powdered garlic).

Then, to continue our produce-centric meals, I made a pizza with tomatoes (Pomi), tomatoes (yellow cherry), mozzarella (left over from book club), goat cheese, and two kinds of basil.

It was super tasty.

Cloey really really wanted a bite, but I was too focused on Hell On Wheels to give her more than many minute of doting attention.

Look at her face.

Seriously.

She didn’t get any, though, because her tummy is still upset and also pizza isn’t for dogs!

Heat your oven to 375. Grease a 9 x 13 or 10 x 10 inch pan. (Crockett got me this square nonstick Williams Sonoma cake pan that I worship and I literally bake everything I can in it. I didn’t even grease it.)

Stir together the first four ingredients and the thyme. Scatter the butter over the top and cut it in using either a pastry cutter or the tips of your fingers. When the butter is mostly flat and small, add the egg and the sour cream. Smoosh it together until it’s holding together in small clumps, and pat slightly more than half into the bottom of your pan. You don’t need to press very hard, just make a flat surface.

Toss the sliced peaches with the cornstarch, and lay them out in a roughly even layer. Sprinkle the rest of the dough over the top, as close to even as you can get.

Bake for 45 minutes. You want the top to be lightly brown and the fruit to be bubbling where it’s visible.

If you are currently choosing to believe that means that I got an A on BOTH of them, I’m not going to stop you. You should review your deductive reasoning skills, maybe, but I still won’t stop you.

How would one start such a banner day, you ask?

With peanut butter oatmeal, of course. (Not familiar? Make oatmeal. Stir in peanut butter while it’s still hot. Eat.) While I was making my peanut butter oatmeal, I also put together my lunch, to take to campus.

Clockwise: a Gala apple (I bought five pounds – there are a lot of apples in my life right now), Earthbound Farm Baby Herb Salad, low-fat Marie’s Bleu Cheese dressing, the bbq chicken I made Thursday, and the caramel corn I made last weekend. The caramel corn was based on Brave Tart’s recipe, available here, and is storing like a dream.

This didn’t actually turn out to be enough food, because between classes I hit up The Fitness Lab.

Yeah, that’s what we call the gym at a very nerdy engineering school

See?

I love the gym. There is always at least one open treadmill, and there is a juice and coffee bar downstair. I’ve never actually visited the coffee bar, but I like that it’s there. Ya know?

I did two miles, which is the first run I’ve taken since I started feeling icky on Monday. It was, in a word, hard. Then I did an upper body workout, because it makes me feel macho. Sure, I don’t make creepy sex noises while I lift like the dude who always asks me about my tattoos, but I’m one tough cookie. Really.

Because my super strenous workout left me starving, I stopped at Sbux after my second class and had only my second pumpkin spice latte of the season.

I really need to learn to make these at home. I’m thinking I’ll start here, with the canned pumpkin option.

Then?

Birthday party time! My darling girlfriend Kelley wanted to go out for a night on the town, so she and her husband Chris and our friends Eden and Jay lined up babysitters, and out we went. (Crockett and I don’t need a babysitter – we basically need 10 minutes notice to find pants and we’re ready for a night out. It’s nice not having kids sometimes.)

Did I say pants? I meant shorts.

We went to a place in Boulder called Cantina Laredo, that was pretty tasty. The birthday girl dived right in with a pomegranate margarita, and then we ordered away.

A chile relleno and the Laredo platter, on my left (Eden) and my right (Crockett). Weirdly, the relleno could be stuffed with cheese or with beef and raisins. Raisins, y’all. Shockingly, Eden did not order the raisin rellenos.

A honey shrimp salad with honey vinaigrette and …. something. Something else. Something …. green? With slaw? Chris ate all of it, so the green stuff must have been tasty.

Helpful, aren’t I.

This is my dinner. Mango chicken salad with the same honey vinaigrette, mango margarita – before and after.

Drink service was slow. Like, half an hour from order time to sip time slow.